Firebrand Republican Rep. Allen West was defeated by Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy, according to the state’s vote count Saturday, but the incumbent won’t concede.

The state issued complete but unofficial results showing Murphy with a lead of 2,442 votes, or 50.4 percent. That’s beyond the half-percent margin needed to trigger an automatic recount. A handful of overseas and military ballots remain outstanding, but under state law the decision for a recount is based on Saturday’s count.

Rep. West has refused to concede the election based on his allegations of misconduct on the part of elections officials and fraud on the part of voters, without providing a shred of evidence to back up his claims.

To be honest, I’m not a bit surprised that Allen West is refusing to concede his election, because he doesn’t strike me as the type who’d be anything but a sore loser.

The apparent winner of the race, Fond du Lac City Council President Rick Gudex, led by 590 votes after the unofficial results were reported on election night. King has said she will not concede to Republican Rick Gudex until the canvass is complete.

State law dictates that a candidate may have a recount without paying a fee if the difference in votes is less than 0.5 percent tafter canvassing is complete. Unofficial results from Tuesday’s election showed a difference of slightly more than that.

Your point is taken, but Jessica King isn’t talking about suing to keep her seat; she simply wants all the votes to be counted. I understand it’s a fine distinction, but to me there’s a difference. Perhaps I should have made that more clear in my entry, but my issue is with the fact that Allen West is threatening legal action to keep his seat.

Personally the whole concession process has always seemed a little weird to me. Probably in part due to what was instilled in me in all from sports I played growing up – the idea of giving up just doesn’t come easy. I get that the math can make things over with a very high probability, but still…The math isn’t any better when you’re down with 2 outs & 2 strikes in the bottom of the ninth, but the pitcher’s still gotta throw the pitch.

The other thing is that concessions are always based on unofficial results compiled bu the AP. Just seems a little weird to give up before the canvas and an actual official winner is declared.

Yeah, and the whole idea of a candidate conceding a race doesn’t mean anything from a legal standpoint either. It’s not as if a candidate needs to concede in order for the election results to be official; it’s more of an etiquette/protocol thing.

Still all seems strange and a bit of an indictment on our election process that so much is based on news agencies’ reporting and candidates conceding races when official results don’t come in for days or weeks later. Honestly, I’m always amazed it goes as smoothly as it does – but I guess, it is to the credit of the vast majority of the individuals sense of decorum & willingness to submit to aid in the smooth transfer of power.

“Probably in part due to what was instilled in me in all from sports I played growing up – the idea of giving up just doesn’t come easy.”

Locke, I’ve long been aware of the dynamic of which you write, and have often wondered if the noted instillation isn’t part a deliberate agenda to indoctrinate young Americans to be agressively competitive – to strive toward being the WINNER at all costs – rather than to cooperate with each other toward the common good. Back in my high school days (late sixties), our coach (no friend of mine) had a sign on the bulletin board next to his desk: “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a poor athlete.” Now, as an adult, I think I know what that sign really meant.

Charles – I’m no sure I’m with on all of that. I certainly wouldn’t ascribe it to a deliberate agenda – I think it’s more just losing oneself to their competitive nature.

One of the greatest lessons I learned from sports was how to lose. I run into people all the time in life who pretty clearly would’ve benefited from learning how to deal with losing/not getting their way when they were younger. That blaming everyone else isn’t going to help anything. That sometimes you can do everything right/the best you can & just get beat by somebody who’s better than you.

For as much attention as the overbearing coach/parent gets in youth sports, at least in my experience, just as often they’re living vicariously through their children to make up for what they missed on their own. This summer I coached little league with an opposing coach who played in the NFL. Talk about somebody who had a competitive drive that puts just about anyone to shame – late round draft pick from a D-III college, he managed to stay in the league for 8 years almost exclusively on special teams. You won’t find somebody who had a better perspective – coaching kids, he was all about teaching the kids the game and letting them have fun.

I’m not a sports fan. I have no interest whatsoever in ball sports of any kind – not even as a spectator. That has been the case since I was a child and is undoubtedly why I was not on a best friends basis with the coach to whom I referred in my previous post. And the fact that the guy was an utter jerk to anybody who wasn’t one of his varsity players did nothing to enhance my opinion of him or to stimulate any seeds of interest I might have harbored.

As an adult, my aversion has expanded to where I find the pervasiveness of broadcast sports more than mildly offensive. It seems there is nowhere one can go anymore and not be bombarded with the Big Game of the day. There is no such thing as a non-sports bar anymore; even the local C-store has one sport or another on the big screen every minute they’re open. I fully understand that my attitude is a product of my earlier experiences. Obviously, you and I have had a different upbringing in this regard; I respect your views.

Okay, now that I’ve exposed my innate bias, I’ll try to get back on topic:

I think you’re partly correct in saying that today’s competetive sports obsession is not specifically the result of a deliberate, malevolent agenda – i.e., engineered and implemented from the ground up for any political purpose. However . . . it is a fact nonetheless that sports are a big distraction, to a large part of the public, from other things (their economic situation??) that should be commanding at least an equal share of their attention. I firmly believe that the Right knows this and takes full advantage of it to keep the rabble from thinking too critically about their collective economic plight. Thus it is encouraged and enabled at every level by those who own the media and stand to benefit from it along with the rest of the ownership class.

Yep, likely a majority of young players come away from the experience with a healthy competitive spirit, including knowing how to lose gracefully. And some come away with an “attitude.” I think a high percentage of right wing politicians would be of the latter ilk – those to whom winning at any cost is the primary goal. Again, something that, while it likely is not the product of any insidious agenda, is nonetheless useful to the capitalist model in whatever quantity it might be generated.

Not to let the facts interfere with a good story … rerunning the early votes in one county for West produced another 250+ votes for him … hmmmm … so just rerunning some early vote ballots produces another 250 votes .. I am sure this is just an innocent mistake … It will be interesting to see turn out numbers and returns once voter Id is implemented.